Scuba Destination Spotlight #24: Dauin, Philippines

An excellent exotic diving location, Dauin’s coastline holds many dive spots that have captivated many-a-diver with its astounding beauty.

A warm atmosphere along with pleasant waters make Dauin a prime location for any type of scuba diver, whether it’s freshly faced beginner or a hardened veteran.

This place hold many spots filled with natural wonders and old wrecks, and its many types of marine life serve as a fantastical addition to an already beautiful site.

Scuba Diving Dauin, Philippines

There are all sorts of dive spots around Dauin. These can range from natural sanctuaries of local marine life, to accidental wrecks of boats and even cars, purposely sunk and more.

There are many world class muck diving locations in the world: Lembeh, Anilao and more, and Dauin is one of those sort of locations.

When it comes to very exotic and rare and endangered species, Dauin is a front runner when it comes to being able to see these amazing creatures.

From wonderpus, mimics, flamboyant cuttlefish, bobtail squid, ornate ghost pipefish, hairy frogfish and much much more. The extent of the amazing creatures here is a diver’s dream.

Although Dauin is one of my favorite muck diving and macro underwater photography location, on the contrast from the black sand muck dive sites is the amazing Apo Island.

Apo Island, about 45 minutes by dive boat from most dive resorts in Dauin, has a world class protected marine reserve, with an incredible amount of healthy coral and reef with a huge number of accompanying reef fish.

The reef systems are so healthy at Apo, that biologists use it as an example of highly successful marine conservation projects. Even the Chicago Aquarium was modeled after the Apo Island reefs.

Needless to say, with such incredible opportunities for underwater photographers for both muck diving with rare species, to amazing reefs with huge schools, Dauin should be on every scuba diver’s bucket list.